The field of the invention is a panel light assembly, and more specifically panel light assemblies designed to be configured and/or associated with a wall or other structure to create an optimal lighting pattern within an area such as a workspace, office, conference room, or the like, for facilitating various tasks.
Lighting systems of one type or another are provided in virtually all workplace spaces to enable users of those spaces to carry on various activities. For instance, lighting is usually required to carry out general work tasks such as illuminating the top of a desk or table top surface for general use, illuminating a conference room for in person meetings, illuminating conferees participating in a telepresence activity, etc.
Different light patterns are optimal for facilitating different types of activities. For instance, for general use activities, intense light directed downward onto a desk top is usually considered optimal as a space user is typically looking down at materials located on the top surface of the desk. As another instance, for in person meeting spaces, general area light is usually considered optimal as such lighting illuminates meeting attendees as well as the top surface of a conference table for viewing attendee materials. As still one other instance, for telepresence activities, light should illuminate a participating conferee from various sides and directions to avoid generating unintended shadows which adversely affect image quality. In addition, for telepresence activities, the light should generally be indirect to avoid cases where a conferee has a direct line of sight to the light source which can cause eye fatigue and cases where light is shown directly into a camera field of view.
While it is known that different light patterns are optimal for different user tasks, in many cases space uses and optimized light requirements for different uses are an afterthought. In this regard, in many cases office space is generally designed to include a sort of one size fits all lighting system which provides a maximum area lighting capability configured to light all space equally. Typically, these systems include large panel ceiling lighting assemblies where each assembly includes elongated fluorescent light bulbs and related reflectors and diffusers mounted in assembly housings. In many cases the number of lighting assemblies for each space is determined as a function of the square feet of the space. When illuminated, the assemblies essentially fill the space with generally downwardly directed light patterns. Thus, a private office space, a conference room, a space used for telepresence activity, etc., are all provided with the same ceiling mounted lighting assemblies in different patterns based solely on the size and shape of the space.
While this solution may work well for some space uses, unfortunately this solution is not optimal in other uses. For instance, many people find that general ceiling mounted lighting assemblies do not provide sufficiently intense light for general desk activities. As another instance, general ceiling light systems often generate light patterns that result in poor or at least less than optimal conditions for generating telepresence images during telepresence activities.
In the case of general desk activities in a personal office space or the like, additional desk or floor supported task lighting is often used to supplement the ceiling lighting assemblies. Here, the task lighting increases light intensity on the top surface of a user's desk while the ceiling lighting assemblies still provide general ambient light to an area.
In the case of a space used for telepresence activities, one solution has been to mount lights within an office wall or a panel of a panel wall system to direct light generally horizontally to illuminate a telepresence user's face. To this end, some exemplary systems include an assembly having a light source and a reflector mounted within a housing where the entire assembly can be mounted within a wall opening. In many cases the reflector is juxtaposed with respect to the light source so that the light source is hidden from direct view and the reflector reflects light toward a user's face in an attempt to generate an optimized light pattern.
Another solution has been to provide a light guide panel assembly that includes a light guide panel member having an edge and a line of LEDs arranged along the edge to direct light into the panel. The panel can include light dispersing features that cause light to be directed from a side surface thereof to illuminate a space. Here, the assembly can be made relatively thin and still provide a side surface which has a glowing effect that results from the light dispersing features.
While source and reflector wall mounted assemblies generate a light pattern that can illuminate a user's face, these assemblies have several shortcomings. First, in known cases, while light from these sources is indirect, the pattern of light emanating from the reflector is not uniform so that some parts of the reflector appear bright (e.g., like a direct light source) while other parts appear dark. The bright parts of the reflected light tend to have the same effect as a source that generates light that directly subtends a user's eye. The bright reflected light can adversely effect a user's vision almost immediately and over time the bright reflected light causes user eye fatigue.
Second, because some parts of the reflector appear bright while other parts appear dark, the light pattern resulting from these assemblies is typically non-uniform. Non-uniform light causes reflection artifacts that show up in resulting telepresence images and can be distracting to remote image viewers. This is particularly true in cases where a user is located relatively close to a wall mounted light assembly where pattern irregularities are more defined when they subtend a user's face or other object.
Third, many wall mounted light assemblies that include a light source and an associated reflector have dimensions that render the assemblies unsuitable for mounting in certain types of walls. For instance, many office spaces are now configured using panel or architectural wall assemblies that include a relatively thin frame structure with decorative fascia panels mounted thereto. The decorative panels may include glass panels, opaque wood grain, fabric covered, etc., panels, or other types of panels. Here, the frame structure is often within a range between two and five inches thick which is insufficient for housing most wall mounted assemblies. This is especially true in cases where at least some of the space defined by the frame structure is required to mount a fascia panel adjacent one of the light assemblies. For instance, where a frame structure has first and second sides and a decorative fascia panel is mounted to the frame structure to finish off the first side, the mounting components for the decorative frame panel often obstruct the space within the frame structure thereby rendering that space unusable for mounting a light assembly.
Fourth, even in cases where a wall mounted light assembly may have a depth dimension suitable for mounting within a panel or architectural wall structure, in known cases light assemblies do not include any features to facilitate such mounting.
Known light guide wall assemblies also have several shortcomings. First, often these assemblies are not bright enough to provide sufficient intensity for illuminating a user during telepresence activities.
Second, there is no known configuration using this type of assembly where the light assembly is located at a location optimized to facilitate telepresence activity. For instance, a glowing conference room wall in a large conference space may be aesthetically pleasing but where that wall is not juxtaposed in front of and near the face of a telepresence system user, a suitable lighting effect for telepresence activity does not occur.
Third, known wall mounted light guide systems include structure that is not suitable for use with panel or architectural wall frame structures such that the systems can be mounted within a frame in a modular fashion.